Shawn Fain remains president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), but it’s not that simple:
UAW federal monitor Neil Barofsky published the unofficial results of the union’s international officer elections, and Shawn Fain will remain president. That’s no huge surprise, since it’s very difficult to remove a union leader who hasn’t been sentenced to prison.
The finer details are more telling, though. Unofficially, Fain received around 68% of the total votes from all regions, but in Region 1 (Warren, MI), Fain received only 57% of the vote, which shows that he’s not universally popular in Solidarity House’s backyard. One report indicates that fewer than 10% of UAW members voted in the election.
Additionally, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock—whom Fain ousted before Barofsky ordered her reinstatement—unofficially lost to Brandon Campbell, who ran on Fain’s slate. Mock refused to approve Fain’s questionable financial requests to funnel benefits to his fiancée. Speaking of which, that grand jury subpoena for Barofsky’s reports on Fain still lingers. Never a dull moment for the UAW!
A Starbucks barista got real about union disappointment:
“I liked the idea of unions. Then I joined one at Starbucks.” That’s the title of a USA Today column by Center for Union Facts Council member Joe Emmenegger, who opened up about the smoke and mirrors that he observed as a San Diego barista and member of Starbucks Workers United (SWU). Emmenegger wrote that there have been no tangible benefits from membership with SWU, which still doesn’t have a first contract, nearly five years after organizing its first Starbucks location.
Despite being a bargaining unit member, Emmenegger was left out of last fall’s strike authorization vote, and he wrote that “meetings behind closed doors” are commonplace with SWU. After Emmenegger and his fellow workers became fed up, he reached out to a lawyer and filed a decertification petition. Although 60% of the store’s baristas signed, as Emmenegger wrote, “my store is still fighting through the arduous process of getting the union removed.”
Surprise! SEIU is behaving badly during an enormous campaign:
Last month, a representation petition was filed for a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) election that was bound to be unusual. The petition in question involves a unit of 190,000 home health care assistants whose work is facilitated by Public Partnership, LLC (PPL). New York Focus, a nonprofit independent news organization, recently published an investigative report about how SEIU helped PPL “take over” the state’s Medicaid-funded Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP).
Now, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is calling attention to a motion to intervene filed by Elena Rizzo, who provides at-home health care for her fiancé and is paid through CDPAP.
In her brief, Rizzo states that she is not an employee of PPL, which acts as an intermediary that assists with payroll processing and regulatory compliance. She filed unfair labor practice (ULP) charges and alleged that “PPL violated the [NLRA] by providing assistance and support to SEIU in soliciting and obtaining support for its RC petition, and that SEIU violated the [NLRA] by requesting and receiving that assistance and support.”
SEIU is trying to organize 190,000 workers like Rizzo, and if the union is successful, it stands to receive a ton of dues money. But if Rizzo’s claim is correct and these workers aren’t really employed by PPL, well, that sounds like a massive scandal, doesn’t it?
A year of union bargaining produced counterproductive results for workers:
In Springfield, Missouri, 368 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 753 members, who work for City Utilities of Springfield, have a new contract following a messy year of bargaining. However, the end result was even messier and, although quite unusual, it shows that union membership doesn’t pay.
What happened? IBEW and the employer had not reached a deal after seven negotiation sessions held in one month. When it became clear that the sides had reached an impasse, the Board of Public Utilities stepped in to consider the offers that union members did not approve.
In the end, the Board of Public Utilities did not approve the employer’s most recent offer, which included a 9% raise and an inflation trigger to push wage boosts to 10.5% over three years. Say what? Instead, the board adopted the version with 9% and no trigger. The NLRB doesn’t have jurisdiction over public-sector employers, so that route to review is closed.
Absent a future lawsuit, these union members are now bound by the lower offer while also paying dues to IBEW.
Turbulence at the Department of Labor (DOL) seems to be over:
Keith Sonderling has officially been sworn in as the 31st U.S. secretary of labor, although word on the D.C. streets is that he’s been doing the job since early 2025. And after the DOL’s inspector general issued his final report on accusations against Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the department can move into a new era.
The Senate confirmed Sonderling on Sept. 30. He’s already developed the DOL’s proposed joint employer and independent contractor standards, pushed for increasing 401(k) investment options, and launched an AI apprenticeship program. He’s widely viewed as the steadiest option for leading the department, and now, he’s finally got the job.
